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Israeli forces evacuate Palestinian encampment

AP
1:39 p.m. EST February 9, 2013

Israeli security arrests Palestinian activists in Yatta, south of the West Bank city of Hebron on Saturday. Palestinian activists set up a tent village to protest the settlement building in the area.(Photo: Nasser Shiyoukhi, AP)

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military says it has driven out some 100 Palestinian activists who had pitched an illegal tent camp near the city of Hebron in the southern West Bank.

Saturday's operation marked the fifth time in the past month Israeli forces broke up a Palestinian encampment.

The Palestinians aim to draw attention to Israel's control of territory they seek for a future state. In particular, they say they are protesting what they describe as a broad Israeli policy to prevent Palestinians from building in West Bank areas controlled by the Jewish state.

The activists seem to be adopting a tactic of Jewish settlers, who establish communities on contested territory hoping it will remain theirs once structures are built.

The military said soldiers used riot control measures to disperse the crowd.

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